Requirements and test programs for sealed radioactive sources are specified in international standards for safety in transport and in use.
Sealed sources which are approved as special form radioactive material according to the Transport Regulations, IAEA Safety Standards TS-R-1, must be able to withstand mechanical (9 m drop, percussion and bending) and thermal (800°C heat) tests without loss of radioactive content.
The International Standard ISO 2919 provides a set of tests which classifies the sources for their safety in use. Performance tests specified in this standard are temperature (high and low), external pressure, impact, vibration and puncture tests. Each test can be applied at different levels of intensity depending on typical usage.
As a criterion of pass or fail, leakage testing has to be done after each test.
The poster gives an overview of BAM s comprehensive test equipment and experience in testing sealed radioactive sources.

The mechanical and thermal loadings associated with the routine, normal and accident conditions of transport can have a significant effect on the leak tightness of the sealing system of transport casks for spent fuel and high radioactive waste.
Applicants are requested by BAM to provide test programmes for verification of design leakage rates of the sealing system under the possible loads.
Two test series initiated to clarify the dependency of the standard leakage rate on dynamic lid displacement as well as the dependency of the useful elastic recovery ru of a metallic seal on temperature and time, are outlined in this paper as examples of present investigations:
Sliding tests simulating a lid displacement possible by a horizontal drop of the cask are carried out at the controlled drop test facility of BAM with test flange pairs equipped with metallic Helicoflex seals.
For specification of covering values for the useful elastic recovery ru GNS has started a very comprehensive test programme with overall 70 metallic seals installed in test flanges which are stored for a period of one year at three different temperatures up to 150°C.
This paper gives an overview about the current approach of BAM in the assessment of cask tightness and informs about the status of the running test series.

Three drop test campaigns have been performed with DN 30 Protective Structural Packaging (PSP) developed by DAHER NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGIES GmbH for the transport of natural, enriched and reprocessed uranium hexafluoride (up to 5 wt%) in 30B cylinders.
The mechanical prototype testing is intended to demonstrate that the package DN30 complies with regulatory requirements under normal and hypothetical accident conditions of transport (NCT, ACT) relevant to IF, AF and B(U)F packages, respectively.
The paper includes the results of the latest test campaign carried out in 2015-2016 at the drop test facility of BAM, Germany with new full scale prototypes of the DN30 PSP and 30B cylinders. Repetition of drop test sequences became necessary after changing to Polyisocyanurate foam as shock absorbing material with variable foam densities. Furthermore, the mechanical behavior of the UF6 content of the 30B cylinder is now simulated by a mixture of cement and steel grid as modified surrogate material; instead of small steel balls. The behavior of this new content simulation is assumed to be more realistic with respect to the properties of real UF6.

The design of a special form radioactive material has to resist a severe transport accident without undue loss or dispersal of radioactive material.
Safety assessment by authorities competent for design approval has to include besides the required test program (impact, percussion, bending and heat test) also the evaluation of the quality management system for design, manufacture, testing, documentation, use, maintenance and inspection.
These quality assurance measures have to assure that every specimen of the approved design is produced in the same verified quality and every specimen must be able to survive the severe mechanical and thermal tests without undue loss or dispersal of radioactive material at any time of its working life.
All important aspects in the design approval procedure by BAM as the competent authority for approvals of special form radioactive material in Germany are summarized in a guideline published in 2014. This paper will give additional explanations to some aspects in safety assessment, e.g.:
the applicability of leak test methods and the need to consider ageing aspects.